There's a lot that goes into a stable approach to landing. [Credit: Meg Godlewski]
Key Takeaways:
Unstabilized approaches, often caused by pilots getting "behind the airplane" and rushing checklists, are dangerous, making a go-around the safest course of action.
Achieving a stable approach requires precise speed, non-aggressive configuration changes, and proper trim, best taught through ground sessions with visual aids and "faux pattern" practice at altitude.
Pilots must be prepared for and regularly practice go-arounds, anticipating right rudder for full power and avoiding abrupt flap/gear retraction to ensure safe execution.
When a pilot gets behind the airplane in the pattern, it is never a good thing.
Rushing the checklist—or worse, forgetting the checklist items—leads to a late configured or nonconfigured airplane or being too fast or too high on final. All these things result in an unstabilized approach.
CREATE A FREE ACCOUNT
Sign up to keep reading
Create a free account to continue. Already a member? Sign in below.
Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.
